SHANMUGAM IAS ACADEMY

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Bhagat Singh's house, school get Rs 80 mn for restoration

Legendary
freedom fighter Bhagat Singh's ancestral house, school and his village in Punjab
Province in Pakistan will be restored under a Rs 80-million project.

"We have allocated Rs 80 million for
restoration of the house and school of Independence war hero Bhagat Singh. The
amount will also be spent for the uplift of Singh's village where clean
drinking water is not available and drainage system is in bad shape,"
Faisalabad District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal said. Mengal
said that people in Faisalabad "take pride in the fact that Bhagat Singh
was the son of their soil" and want the place to be known as "the town
of Bhaghat Singh".

The
celebrated revolutionary was born September 28, 1907 at Bangay village,
Jaranwala Tehsil in the Faisalabad (then Lyallpur) district of the Province. Singh's
village, Bangay, some 150 kilometres from Lahore, would also become a tourist
attraction for people, especially Indians, once his house is restored by this
year end, he added.

"Singh's
village is just 35 kilometres from Nankana Sahib. It could be another point of
attraction for the Sikh pilgrims," he said. The government has also
planned to shift Singh's belongings from Faisalabad Museum and Library to his
house, he added. Bangay has a population of 5,000 people. Bhagat's two-kanal
house is owned by advocate Iqbal Virk.

"We
will certainly buy the house from the advocate," Mengal said. On March 23,
1931, following his trial for involvement in the 'Lahore conspiracy case', the
British government hanged him at Shadman Chowk, aged 23.

The
Punjab government had decided to rechristen the Fawara Chowk to Bhaghat Singh
Chowk in October 2012. The plan, however, was put on hold after the report of
renaming drew objections from some quarters